As it turns out, the older design holds up very well against the powerful newcomer and wins several rounds, though as we've noted before, it's more because of optimization than having comparable raw power.

Let's start with the CPU performance. The Google Nexus 4 posts a slow time in Benchmark Pi - slower than both the Galaxy S III and the LG Optimus G. It wins out in Linpack, but not by a big margin - it's on the level of the Galaxy Note II, which uses the same chipset as the S III but clocked higher.

Geekbench 2 puts the Galaxy S III above the Optimus G, but the Nexus 4 came out on top.

Benchmark Pi

Lower is better

HTC One X+280

LG Optimus G285

Samsung Galaxy Note II305

HTC One X (Tegra 3)330

LG Optimus 4X HD350

Samsung Galaxy S III359

Meizu MX 4-core362

Nexus 4431

Linpack

Higher is better

LG Optimus G608

Samsung Galaxy Note II214.3

Nexus 4213.5

Meizu MX 4-core189.1

HTC One X+177.7

Samsung Galaxy S III175.5

HTC One X160.9

LG Optimus 4X HD141.5

Geekbench 2

Higher is better

Nexus 42100

Samsung Galaxy Note II2000

Samsung Galaxy S III1845

LG Optimus G1723

HTC One X (Tegra 3)1634

Apple iPhone 51601

AnTuTu and Quadrant both test overall system performance and their opinions are split - AnTuTu puts the Nexus 4 comfortably on top, while Quadrant rated the Samsung Galaxy S III higher and put the Nexus at the bottom.

AnTuTu

Higher is better

Nexus 415146

Samsung Galaxy Note II13562

HTC One X+13519

Samsung Galaxy S III12288

Meizu MX 4-core11820

HTC One X (Tegra 3)11633

LG Optimus G11226

Quadrant

Higher is better

HTC One X+7632

LG Optimus G7439

HTC One X5952

Samsung Galaxy Note II5916

Samsung Galaxy S III5450

Meizu MX 4-core5170

LG Optimus 4X HD4814

Nexus 44567

Moving on to GPU performance, the newer architecture has a clear advantage - it offered nearly 75% higher framerate in the off-screen GLBenchmark 2.5 test (1080p resolution). It practically matched the iPhone 5, which uses some of the most powerful GPU cores around.

GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt (1080p offscreen)

The Google Nexus 4 comes with Chrome out of the box, while the Samsung Galaxy S III uses the stock Android Browser with some TouchWiz tweaks.

In terms of pure JavaScript performance, Chrome on the Nexus 4 is well behind the stock browser on the Galaxy S III. The Nexus performed better in BrowserMark 2 (a JavaScript and HTML5 test), beating the S III by a nice margin, though it again lagged behind the LG Optimus G.

Vellamo, another compound web browser test, puts the S III near the top and the Nexus 4 at the bottom.

SunSpider

Lower is better

Samsung Ativ S891

Apple iPhone 5915

Nokia Lumia 920910

Samsung Galaxy Note II972

HTC One X+1001

Motorola RAZR i XT8901059

Samsung Galaxy S III1192

Meizu MX 4-core1312

LG Optimus G1353

Nexus 41971

BrowserMark 2

Higher is better

LG Optimus G2555

Nexus 41794

Nokia Lumia 9201774

Nokia Lumia 8201760

Samsung Omnia W1632

Samsung Galaxy S III1247

Vellamo

Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy Note II2418

HTC One X (Tegra 3)2078

Samsung Galaxy S III1641

LG Optimus 4X HD1568

LG Optimus G1522

Meizu MX 4-core1468

Nexus 41310

After all these benchmarks, we have no solid answer to the question of which phone is faster. On average, the Google Nexus 4 is faster - CPU benchmarks favor it (especially in multithreaded tasks) and the GPU victory was pretty decisive.

Results seem very dependent on the software, however. The Samsung Galaxy S III won its fair share of benchmarks. Whatever modifications Samsung have made to the browser seem to have really boosted performance and GLBenchmark 2.1 reported a higher framerate for the S III than the Nexus.

In the end, both phones are powerful enough to handle any task they're given. But the Nexus 4 has room for improvement, the Optimus G (which differs from the Nexus by software only) beat it in several key benchmarks.

Winner: Google Nexus 4. It may not have won outright, but benchmarks leaned in its favor overall and the S4 Pro chipset has potential that can be unlocked with a software update.